Solaris Four: Embers of War
by N.S. Maars
Summary: An original novel of an intergalactic war. john is abducted by the rigel during a highly classified mission and is rescued a week later by the green skinned Solarians. he falls in love with a princess, an assassination leads into brutal war and earth, a key post for refueling and a strategically smart position, suffers a new nazi regime and its own private apocalypse...


Solaris Four: Embers of War

N.S. Maars

 **THIS IS AN ORIGINAL NOVEL THAT I ACTUALLY PLAN TO PUBLISH. ALL CHARACTERS AND THEMES ARE COPYRIGHTED UNDER MY NAME AND HAS BEEN SINCE 2012**

Solaris Four: Embers of War© N.S. Maars 2018

Hard science fiction / fantasy. Suitable for mature readers 17 years and older.  
Contains the following: extremely graphic war violence, horror themes, adult language, adult sexual romance and sensuality, adult humor and slapstick, and alcohol use.

note: all names of people, places, organizations, races and companies are used for fictional purposes only and do not correspond with the actual thing. Names matching anyone or anything in reality are of pure coincidence and do not represent the actual person or place with that name.

It should be noted that this novel is written in two formats for dramatic effect. Most of the novel is written in a spectator third person perspective but during specific sequences of heavily dramatic scenes I switch to first person to create a more personal experience.

 _Sol_ _a_ _ris Four:  
_ _Embers of W_ _a_ _r_

 _A Solaris Chronicles Novel  
Written By: N.S. Maars_

the purpose of publishing this here is to get feedback and see if Sci-fi fans would read a novel of this sort. THIS IS A TEASER OF THE FULL NOVEL OF WHICH I PLAN TO PUBLISH. I HOPE YOU ENJOY!

THIS IS CLASSIFIED AS A STAR TREK AND BATTLESTAR GALACTICA CROSSOVER DUE TO THE NATURE OF MATERIAL

Chapter 1:

Ten years ago in 2240, humans made contact with a new race of people. They call their planetary system Solaria: they singled out their planet Solaris Four as their most prominent world. Other than the foreseen racism certain groups showed towards them, the Solarians integrated smoothly into earth culture.

Another race, the sickly grey skinned Reticuli, was secretly forced off of Earth by the Solarians. Peace followed here on earth for ten years. Or so we thought, we were led to believe the Reticuli were no longer a threat. All war has stopped; this is an era of peace, so they said.

These Solarians have smooth, olive green skin and most have black hair; although many fancied dying their hair in many shades. They have pointed Elven-style ears which move according to the emotions they feel, and two long fingers and a thumb on each hand. Many of the females, with their sexy to die for figures, end up working at dance clubs. The dance club fore mentioned is an alien club. The mood is relaxed, surreal: the music playing is ambient trance and holographic neon lights of purple, pink, and blue and green slowly swirl in the air almost as clouds of color. The dancers, with their neon lit buugeng staffs, trace colorful shapes in the air around them.

John leans up against the bar and orders a vodka martini. The blue haired Solarian bartender prepares the drink as John is approached by two females, one, a Solarian and the other a blue skin. They chose to wear skimpy outfits and it became bluntly obvious why when the blue skin says, "hey baby, wanna have some fun tonight? I won't charge much for you, love."  
"We won't charge much, she means. I wanna have some fun too." the Solarian adds. John smiles as he takes a sip of his drink. "Maybe next time. I'm here with someone at the moment."  
"Whatever you say, baby." The blue skin says. They both slither away like lizards on the hunt to find their next victim and John goes to the booth where a few friends were waiting.

John sits as his friend, Ryan says, "those two green skins sitting over there have been eyeing you like crazy, the two wearing suits. A third is across the room wearing a ridiculous purple robe. This better not have anything to do with your job."  
"If you're using us as cover then I'm out," Says Tom, agitated. He stands and leaves. John takes this moment of clumsy shuffling around to look at the suits. He notices one motion toward the bar, where three blue skins were seated, all wearing strangely uniform-like suits. Before John could remove himself from the booth a tall scaly skinned man wearing a suit walks by and taps the table twice. That gave it away, something wasn't right. John checks his pistol as discreetly as possible due to the sheer size of the three fifty seven magnum six shooter. The silencer was already attached. Good thing too, by the look of things he wouldn't have time to deal with attaching it before shit went down. He stands up and silently walks toward the back of the club. His car was parked out back and he was determined to get to it as fast as possible. Two of the men stand and follow him as the third went to the front. In a blink of an eye the Solarian wearing the robe vanished into thin air while the other two Solarians went after the third blue skin. John gets to the parking lot and fumbles around in his coat pockets and starts mentally judging the distance between the car, him and those following him. Once he was satisfied with the calculations he quickly turns and draws the beast of a gun. He fires, the first round hitting one of the blue skinned assassins at the base of the neck. Dark blue blood explodes from the gaping hole in his throat as John fires again, this round hitting the second assassin in the forehead. Blue mist bursts out the back of his head as bits of brain and blood splatter the wall behind him. John rushes to his car and gets in. he gets on the built in communications system, "this is John Harper of the CIA requesting backup! I repeat, I need back up!"

Suddenly a drone that couldn't be anything other than a Rigelian combat fighter appears floating above the parking lot. "Computer, raise energy shield NOW!" John screams at his car. As soon as he finished the drone opens fire. Glowing bolts of blue plasma fly toward him and the car at three hundred rounds a second. Swearing, John prepares his G36 light machine gun. He rolls from the car and takes aim. He squeezes the trigger yelling, "Eat this you frack!" empty brass shells start forming a pile next to where John lies. After the second 100 round drum the drone gives a violent twitch to the right, then the left. Then the drone goes into a spin as it launches a missile, which hits a building across the street. Turns out the drone was actually being piloted. The ejected grey skin lands with a sickening crack and scream. John gets up as the fighter crashes in the street. He walks over to the alien, clearly pissed off, reloading the g36. The alien pulls a laser pistol and fires but misses. John smirks as he fires the machine gun at the grey skin. The alien is quickly turned into a mass of grey gore and blood. John stomps off back to his car, gets in and slams the door. "Do I ever get a fracking day off!?" he curses. He slams the car into gear and takes off down the road, clearly not giving a damn about the speed limit. The Aston Martins AI hologram pops up and says, "Shielding is at 25 percent and charging. However the max I can get out of it at this point is exactly 74 percent due to physical damage to the cars shield emitter panels. This attack is highly concerning due to having no prior knowledge of a hit. From what I gathered while monitoring the situation, those men were professional assassins."

"Alright, alright. I get it." John says. The AI responds, "I sensed a great amount of fear in your tone of voice, is there anything I can do to assist?"  
"Do you have images of those assassins?"  
"Yes, thanks to your quick judgment to activate me via remote I have gathered a substantial amount of information about both attackers."  
"And the fighter that attacked?" John presses on. The AI responds, "The fighter that showed up may have been in place beforehand, as a backup plan so to speak. Since the hit-men failed the fighter stepped in. My analysis of the fighter and pilot confirms to me that the people that want you dead are called the Rigel. Strangely enough the Rigelians are the Solarians worst rivals. Not only that, rumors state the Rigel have allied with the Neo-Nazi regime."  
"How accurate are those rumors?"  
"If I thought them as inaccurate in the slightest I would not have mentioned it. I feel it is a strong possibility. 99 percent possible to be exact, due to the recent events happening around the world. What will be next, John? Are we going to the CIA headquarters?"

John shakes his head, "no, it's too far from here. We need to get to the safe house here in town. The mechanic there can fix the shield emit-" all of a sudden another Rigelian fighter fell from the sky and stopped at traffic light height in front of the car. Out of freak instinct John jerked the wheel to the left, causing the Aston Martin to flip. John and the G36 are flung from the car. John hits a button on the cars remote and the car explodes into flame. Good thing the suit he was wearing was nanotech smart armor, he rolls and gets to his feet without serious injury. Using the distraction to his advantage he grabs the machine gun and runs towards a shop. He fires at the window and jumps through. It didn't take long for the fighter to trace his heat signature into the shop. However a second before the Rigelian pilot could fire a missile, he gets hit from his right by a volley of blue plasma. A Solarian star fighter zips by at incredible speed followed by a second. The second fighter does a vertical u turn and fires a plasma torpedo, which hit the Rigelian fighter. The ship explodes into a thousand pieces that fall to the street along with, to John's rage, a living Rigel pilot. John opens fire and kills the creature.

John reports to the CIA headquarters as to what happened. "The attack seemed unprovoked, sir."

"Yet was planned very poorly," says the same purple robe wearing Solarian from the bar as he enters the office, "it directly mirrors the methods used by the Reticuli. Clumsy and uncoordinated." Another alien enters with a weapon of some sort shortly after John is handed an assignment. "Do you agree to this mission, John?"  
"yes." John says. "Good." The alien raises his weapon and fires, knocking John on his ass.

John wakes up in a hangar, being driven towards a sleek crimson red starship. "Finally awake, I see. Good thing too, wouldn't want you to miss this. This here is your new ship for the mission you were assigned."  
"By the way, sorry for shooting you, but the location of this base is secret. I'm sure you understand."

After a seemingly fast six months of drifting through space, John is woken from his cryo stasis by the onboard AI. "Good evening, John. We are about two days from our destination at our current speed. We will be entering planetary system epsilon five dash thirty-thirty in about twenty five minutes. I advise prepping the ship for combat." John takes mental notes on the way to the cockpit. He searches the skin tight flight suit he is wearing for a key card. He finds it and waves it at a sensor to the right of the access hatch. The hatch hisses as it jumps forward and slides to the left. John climbs into the cockpit and moves to the forward seat. "Jade, power up the plasma cannons and prepare the missiles for use."  
"Of course, John…. Weapons powered. Do you wish for me to state our defensive capabilities?"  
"Yes." Says John.  
"Energy shields are currently at 75 percent standing. Do you wish me to fully charge them?"  
"Yes. What about hull plating?"  
"The plating on the hull has been slightly damaged by passing space debris however I doubt it is of any concern. The polarizing panels are still active. Sir, we have incoming. I'm activating cloaking device. Please remain silent. I am transferring myself to your personal heads up display, use the keyboard of you tablet to communicate with me."

"Transfer complete, can you hear me, captain?" Jade asks. " _Yes clearly_." John responds. "It seems they are scanning the area. Weapons are ready to use if you need them, captain."  
" _Let's just wait a moment._ " John types into the keypad to his right. He slides the seat forward into flight position and waits. "Captain! We've been spotted!"  
"Shut down autopilot!" John shouts. "Autopilot disengaged."  
John pulls left hard and enters into a level flight path. "Firing missiles one and two."

"Direct hit," says Jade, "target shields to 50 percent." John pulls the trigger built into the joystick and a volley of blue bolts of plasma strike the target. He fires again and the ship explodes, ejecting a single pilot into space, missing an arm. Seconds later about five Rigelian star fighters intercept John's fighter. They open fire almost as soon as they enter range. "Shields at 75% and dropping, attempting to readjust charge time." Jade says as John pulls left to avoid a missile. He blind fires a missile and it hits a fighter in the right wing. The flaming wreckage nearly hit John's ship as he pulls the trigger and dives at the next target. The fighter explodes and the grey skinned pilot slams into the hull of John's fighter, knocking him off course slightly. Jade locks on to the other three targets and fires missiles, destroying them.

"Targets have been silenced. Reactivating cloaking device now. Shields have fully recharged. Well, that was interesting." The hologram of Jade smiles at John. "By the way, John, I have recalculated our position, it appears the battle drew us closer to the planet. We could be in orbit in about 10 minutes, shall I plot a course?"  
"Yes. I'll be in the cargo bay preparing. I'd like you to get me as close to the missions objective as possible."  
"Of course, captain, good luck." Jade says and turns towards the control panels.

John leaves the cockpit and climbs down the ladder into the cargo bay. He goes over to a locker and waves an access card in front of the lock. It clicks and the locker swings open, revealing a suit of sleek, black armor and a rifle, a Tavor .223 caliber battle rifle. He grabs the armor and squeezes into it. After powering up the helmets heads up display he grabs the rifle and makes sure it's loaded.  
"Jade, transfer to my heads up display when you are ready," John says through the mic.

"Of course captain." Jade responds. "I have an update; we are currently in the process of landing. We will set down about 5 miles from the location." The AI appears in Johns HUD and continues, "We can use the short range teleportal to cover the ground faster."  
John stands on a 4 foot round pad near the back of the cargo hold and says, "Send me, Jade."

John is painlessly turned into a particle beam and reappears in a wooded area. He cloaks himself and raises the rifle. Looking around, he notices a building about 10 yards away. "Jade, scan the area."  
"Captain, there are three guards with sniper weapons on the roof, five rangers to the north heading our way and three near the entrance. Prepare for combat, five rangers intercepting in one minute." John attaches a silencer to his rifle as he hears an alien yell, "siika'va ah'te." It meant, "Spread out."

"Siva'ti kari'ti vanrii sika," followed the order. Basically, "I think I heard something moving up ahead."  
John raises his rifle and flicks the safety switch to full auto. As soon as the first grey skin comes into view John fires a single round, putting it in the alien's skull. The alien drops to the ground and the other four open fire at random. John mentally face-palms and whispers to himself, "dammit, so much for stealth."

He fires at a second and a third, dropping them in one shot each. He scans the area and tracks down the last two. He knifes them both and runs toward the building. "John, hold up," John stops as Jade continues, "A sniper is up on the building to your left."

John takes a moment to aim and fires, the round rips through the greys chest and he falls. He finds the entrance and takes out the guards. "There is a control panel up ahead; it will deactivate the force field protecting the artifact. Take a left at the next corridor." Jade informs John. He takes the left and opens fire at the two guards. They drop as John reaches the panel. He wipes away the grey blood and activates the panel. It opens and slides to the left. "John, place your hand near the AI port, I'll hack it for you." Says Jade. He does and the hologram of Jade appears standing on the projector pad. "Three, two, and done! Hurry it up, captain. It triggered a silent alarm."

John retrieves the AI program, runs into the room and grabs the artifact. "Transport me back to the ship, now!"  
"There is a problem, we cannot beam out; a program within the building is blocking the transporter. I'm currently working on it. Cloaking device is also low on power."  
The cloaking device dies and John becomes visible. "Oh shit."

"Yeah, and it gets worse. You're going to have hold off incoming troops while I work on the program. I've got about 2 minutes until I'm finished. Also, we have incoming troops." The first alien turns the corner and John opens fire. Vaseline colored blood splatters the walls as troops continue to appear around the corner. John reloads the Tavor and continues to fire. After a minute and thirty seconds of combat the aliens stopped coming in. A pile of grey aliens in armor suits filled with bullet holes lay in front of the door. "Captain, I'm nearly finished. Also cloaking device is at fifty percent and charging. Reactivating the cloak." John disappears just as three grey skins enter the room. They look around, confused, and then leave. "The program has been deactivated, transport in three, two, one."

John disappears and reappears in the cargo bay. "Jade, transfer to the bridge and start up the ship!"  
"Transfer complete. Powering ship." John runs across the cargo bay and hides the artifact in a safe. He then climbs the ladder into the bridge and plops into the pilot seat. "Captain, our weapons and shields are at full power. Engines are at ninety percent. Lift off in three, two, one."

The ship takes off and enters the atmosphere. "Enemy fighters approaching. Targets acquired. Firing missiles… targets silenced."  
"Thank you, Jade."

"You are very welcome, captain. Our path is open. Powering up the slipstream generator." The ship jumps into slip stream and John leans back as Jade says, "We will be entering earth orbit in three days. I suggest you get some sleep." John climbs half way down the ladder and into a built in bunk bed.

John wakes in the morning and goes down into the cargo bay. He opens the safe and pulls out the artifact. He returns to the bridge. He turns it over in his hand. He honestly thought it was a weapon like an energy sword of some sort. It resembles a lightsaber like in star wars, but then he thought, " _Why would area 51 want a lightsaber._ _Especially bad enough to send an ex-CIA agent to retrieve it_."  
Jade appears and says, "Captain, you have an incoming call, its area 51."  
"Answer it." John moans, slightly annoyed. "Good morning John, this is Ryan at area 51, we were wondering if your mission was successful?"  
"Yes, I've received the artifact. I have it on board, I'm currently en route to earth as we speak." John says.  
"Good we will see you when you get here." The link clicks off and John sets his .357 revolver on the dashboard.

The AI suddenly pops up again and says, "I have detected three Reticuli destroyers and two Rigelian slave ships on long range sensors. They have detected us and are moving to intercept."  
"Prepare the nuclear missiles and power up the EMP." John orders.  
"Of course captain, 35 seconds until they are in range."

They show up outside the window and John says, "Target the nearest ships engineering bay and fire." With a slight, muffled boom the ship explodes into a flash of bright flames and thousands of dead bodies float away from the wreckage. Suddenly a blue beam of light hits Johns ship and is pulled into the hangar of the remaining slave ship.

Next thing John knew was he woke up on a cold metal table. He had electrodes attached to his chest and temples. "What the hell is this?"  
An officer in a Nazi uniform enters the room. "Ve found ze artifact, however ve don't know how to open it. Well, you are going to tell us, vith a little prodding. You see, you are hooked up to an electro shock device."  
"Oh I can guarantee I'm not sure how it works either." The alien assistant turns a knob and shocks go through John's body.  
"Oh frack! Good morning!" John shouts, "is that the best you got?!" the alien turns up the power and shocks him again. "Ha! Now that may get some information out of me!"

"Vell then. Ve shall continue. Again!" the alien shock him again. John leans over to the alien with a smile on his face and says, "You do realize that once I'm free I'm gonna kill you so fracking hard." More shocks. "But not before I violate you with a damn," he gets interrupted by more shocks. John turns to the Nazi, "your human, right… well your wife fracking loved what I gave her last, gahahgahagha, god damn it! We are gonna do it again to nigh- gahahgahagha!"

An hour goes by, and then two hours and then three, still John wouldn't speak. "Attention crew! All report to battle stations, all crew report to battle stations! Solarian ship incoming!"  
"Sounds like y'all gone and pissed someone off. Have fun dealing with that." John shouts. Suddenly the ship shakes and John falls off the table. He stands and grabs the alien rifle sitting on the counter. He opens fire and kills the Nazi and the alien. He pauses over the alien body and says, "Sorry I skipped the violation part." The ship shakes again and sparks are sent flying across the room, a fire starts and John runs out into the hallway. He runs into more aliens and opens fire. Blood splatters everywhere. The rifle was powerful enough to rip a human in half with just a few blasts. The ship shakes again and sparks fly, then the power flickers. Another violent shake and the power went out. John swipes at his arm and a screen shows up. He smirks, knowing they forgot to remove it. "This is John Harper, Ex-CIA agent, to the Solarian ship; I need a beam out ASAP!"

John disappears and reappears in a white walled medical bay. He is helped into a bed and a Solarian doctor says, "Once your adrenaline wears off those burns are going to hurt." The ship shakes as it is hit with plasma bolts. "Get an IV in this patient now!"

On the Solarian ships bridge an officer yells, "Captain, shields at 25 percent!" another yells, "firing full spread torpedoes. Target destroyed!"

"Good work guys! Drinks on me this afternoon." The captain says as he takes a seat. The security officer puts out a small fire that erupted across a control panel. "Why is it always this panel?" he asks.

Back in the medical bay, John is dosed with pain killer as the doctor heals his injuries with a device that has a beam of blue light coming from it. John passes out.  
"Well, it's nice to meet you sir. I am Blain, but you can call me doctor. Your injuries will heal just fine, however, you did get hit by a plasma rifle blast, and it broke two ribs and nearly punctured your left lung. Can you recall anything before waking up this time?"  
"All I remember is using my implant. Why?"

"You passed out on this bed two days ago." The doctor says as a green skin wearing an extravagant purple velvet robe and a red satin lined purple velvet cloak enters the medical bay. She says as she sits down on the bed, "Do you know why you were a target? Well, the war could only begin when you were declared dead. And that is because I chose you to be the next Supreme Commander."  
"And what is your rank?" John asks. She blushes and says, "I apologize; I should have introduced myself. My name is Zamos Atlantia, princess of Solaris Four."  
"Oh, well it's an honor to meet you. And according to Solarian law, I am apparently the prince to be?"

"Yes John, you have done your research I see. My mother, the current Queen is close to retirement. As that stands, I'll be crowned queen in about 4 months. It's at the start of next year. In regards to you, my father will be retiring as well. Meaning, whether or not we are married, you will be crowned supreme commander. I've been watching you for a while now and have deemed you worthy of the position. Anyways, I wish to show you around, it's my ship you know. Hehe." She blushes again. "We have also made arrangements for you to become a Solarian Citizen. You'll keep your US citizenship too."  
"I'm sorry but I need to get back to work." John says as he sits up.  
Zamos smiles and says, "John… I'm afraid that is no longer an option, those aliens that captured you, well; they found the device you were hiding. Unfortunately they escaped too. We need your help to find them. Besides, your work almost just costed you your life."  
"But… occupational hazard…" John proclaims.

"John, this is a matter of life and death on a galactic scale. It goes far beyond a lowly pirate job, you can make a difference." Zamos says.  
John says, "Yeah, good point, yeah, sure, fine I'm in. What's in it for me though?"  
She smiles, her answer was complex yet simple, "me… we shall be the greatest leaders of our kind."  
She then turns to the doctor. "Blain, is he discharged?"  
"Yes ma'am he may leave. But before you do, I set an appointment for him to see myself and Roltiar tomorrow at 1700 hours."  
"5pm got it. We will be here."

As John stands, Zamos takes off her Cloak and wraps it around him. The bay is a pure hospital white and is circular. Zamos leads John into a hallway which leads to a door with a half sphere to the right of the door. Zamos points to a door to the right, "you'll be going here to see Roltiar. It leads into the surgical rooms; this is the door we are going through." Zamos waves a card in front of the scanner and the door unlocks and opens. The straight hallway leads directly past the crew quarters and into the bridge. John was slightly confused that there were no windows on the bridge and he asks, "No windows? I thought this was mainly a luxury cruiser."

"Nope, this ship is actually built as a battleship," Zamos says as she activates a hologram table. She brings up a map of the ship and points to a spot at midship. "This is where we are at the moment. Also the ship can detach into two sections. We are on deck five midship towards aft."  
"Computer, highlight engineering." Zamos continues.  
"Engineering is deck four aft; the starboard lift can take you there. I must warn you though; the gravity reverses after passing crawl space four point five. Only a few lifts are designed to go lower than deck five."  
Zamos smiles, "the grav-plating is built into crawl space four point five. It's fun to go there and float around and sit on the ceiling. Also the reason the entire ship has reversed gravity is due to the attached ship, which is one deck below us, is in effect, upside down. The attached ship is only four decks tall." a green skin in uniform approaches them and Zamos says, "John, this is ship-master James McCloud." they shake hands, "welcome aboard the Ambient Wonder sir. And, Zamos forgot to mention, the five extra decks aft seamlessly blend with the assault cruiser. Anyways enjoy your stay."  
"Thank you sir."

James salutes the Queen and says, "Continue with your tour your majesty." She gives a slight bow. "What's an assault cruiser?" John asks. Zamos smiles and says, "basically a ship of guns, guns and more guns… oh and speed. They rely on fast and accurate attacks. Not so good in full scale battles though."

Zamos salutes the crew, "at ease, back to your stations men." As John and Zamos leave the bridge through a lift Zamos asks, "Want to grab a bite to eat? There are a few luxury diners a few decks up or there is the mall food court."  
"You choose. I'd eat anything right about now." They eat in silence and head to a Japanese sushi bar to get diner to go.

"I'll show you my place next, you'll love it." They both enter a lift and Zamos says, "Catwalk 6 and a half." This totally confused John but she smiles at him and says, "Trust me, John. It is a secret shortcut I always use to get from here to my room." The lift stops, rotates to the left and opens the door. "This cat walk is rarely used and when it is it's normally by officers or maintenance workers. It's exactly a fourth of the way up from deck one. The ship has twenty four decks and an extra half deck which has pools and an amusement park. That's not including the extra decks minus one through minus five at the aft nor the twenty three crawl spaces and cat walks." They get to a four step ladder which leads to a panel. She sets the food down and jumps down to the floor. She crouches and presses a hidden button and the panel pops up and slides to the right. She whispers, "Computer, lights to seventy five percent." The lights come on to reveal the inside of a closet filled with Halloween like costumes. She climbs down a ladder and asks John to hand her the food. He does and then follows her. "Ha, took me three years to find that secret. Otherwise the hallways to my room are like a maze." She says as she seals the panel. John smiles as he looks at all the dresses and costumes. The sight of Gothic dresses and clothing along with goofy, colorful costumes lit up John. Zamos reads the look on John's face, smiles and says, "I see you like my costumes collection. I love dressing up. I'll dress up for any occasion." John smiles and Zamos opens the door. John enters into the Queen's chamber and the first thing he notices is the super comfy looking furniture. John goes and puts the food in the stainless fridge and runs to the pile of 6 foot wide bean bags and plops down on them. They turn out to be extremely poofy pillows. He takes a moment to take in the sights. The room is decked out in a Gothic Victorian style. The color scheme is mainly purple and black. The bedroom section is ballet pink and black, the kitchen is black marble and gunmetal stainless. The bathroom is decked out with super futuristic modern fixtures, with a blue and black color scheme. The elegance of the Gothic Victorian era and the swooping curves of modern future styles blew his mind. The mix of style was unbelievably well done. It felt like a Gothic dream in this room. He gets up and asks, "May I get a shower? It's been a while."

"Sure. I'll need to show you how it works." Zamos takes John to the bathroom and shows him to the shower chamber. She opens the fogged out door to reveal a 5 foot by 5 foot room with waterfall wells and rain style shower heads at the top, the drains are built into the wall. "All you need to do is say 'computer do such and such. For example, computer, set water to 75 degrees F."  
"Temperature reached," the water turns on, "enjoy your shower."  
"Computer," Zamos says and purposely waits.  
"Yes, how can I be of assistance?" The female voice responds.  
"Tint the water so it glows in black light and turn on black light. Adjust main lighting to 15 percent." The computer does as ordered and asks, "Would you like to enjoy some music?"

John smiles and asks, "Computer, what kind of music can you play?"  
"The Ambient Wonder computer system is programmed with over a thousand music artists from every planet which this ship services. In total we have over five hundred trillion different artists and every song for each artist. The likelihood of you musical taste not being in the database is nearly zero percent. How can I be of assistance?"  
"Play, interloper by Carbon-Based Life forms." John says.

"Well then," Zamos says, "I'll be in the TV room." John finishes his shower and grabs a towel, which, to his surprise, fell open into a full sized robe with hood. "Hey there, how was your shower?"  
"Refreshing." John says as he lets himself fall into the pile of large fuzzy pillows. "So I was wondering," John says, inching closer to Zamos, who was now blushing, "if I'm correct about Solarian government, it being a monarch-ruled super democracy, as supreme commander, I am supposed to be married-" Zamos cuts him off with a kiss. She smiles and says, "Yes you are correct."

"Clearly, I've noticed you have feelings for me," John says as Zamos rolls over on top of him, "As for me, I fall for Solarians very easily." Zamos lets her hair fall over her left shoulder as she tilts her head. She says, "well that will make things very ease, wont it?" John nods and Zamos gives him a tease, rubbing the inside of his leg. "Oh look at the time. Let's get that sushi, shall we?" Disappointed slightly that it didn't go further, John agrees and they both get up and head to the kitchen.

They sit at the oak diner table side by side and prepare the wasabi and soy sauce. They had bought many types of sushi along with Chinese Pad Thai. "John, I must admit something to you. I've seen you out and about on earth. Not only are you attractive you also have a perfect leadership record. I couldn't pass up the opportunity to meet you." Zamos says. John smiles and responds, "and I've been waiting." Zamos lets out a little hehe and blushes.

Chapter 2:

"Hey, John! Wake up!" Zamos says. She waits a moment and then pounces on top of him, "John?"  
"What?" John moans, still half asleep. She playfully bounces up and down on him, "up, up, get up, John, get up."  
"Oh my god, fine. What time is it?"  
"Ten thirty. We have a lunch meetup with a few of my friends at twelve. We're meeting them at the Korravi bar and grill. But first we need to do some shopping, for you of course."

"Alright, give me a minute," John says as he goes to the closet to pick out an outfit. She had very little as far as male clothing so John just picks out a pair of shorts and a black pagan like robe. He returns to the main room, where he sees Zamos near the front door of her suite, wearing a vibrant purple robe. "What was that restaurant called again?" John asks. "Korravi bar and grill. By the way, I have a little gift for you." She says as John joins her at the door. "It's a credits card." She hands John a clear plastic-like card that shows a few numbers within. "It has one million credits already on it. I took the liberty of setting you up with the Solarian Banking Commission. Your Solarian ID card should be ready soon. For now, we need to go clothing shopping."

Zamos waves her hand over an orb and the door slides open. She then waves her hand over another and the computer says, "Door locked, do you wish to add a pass key?"  
Zamos selects "no" from the two options and they head left down the short hallway. They then take a right, then the second left and the second right. They arrive at a lift and they enter. "Computer, two decks up." The lift powers on and within 5 seconds Zamos and John enter into what could only be the ships main greeting hall.

"Welcome to deck eight. This is the main greeting area where people come to hang out. It's also where new arrivals come in through. It's built to make a statement."  
"And it sure does." John says as he looks up. Four decks tall the greeting hall has a massive emerald and diamond chandelier in the center, which seems to spin as it floats half way up. There are seating areas scattered around and plenty of hologram boards and hologram TVs. "John the shopping mall is down this hallway." Zamos says after noticing John was stunned into a standstill at the amazing sights. He snaps out of it and joins Zamos.

They head down the hall a bit and John notices something outside the viewport to his left. "Is that what I think it is?"  
"If you're thinking it's a clear walkway then yes. We call it stargazer lane. The gravity is lower out there than in here. It's an experience all travelers yearn for." Zamos says as John's jaw drops, "I need to try it out."

"Later perhaps, we've got to focus on the things at hand; we are on a time limit." Zamos says as she tugs at John arm. John agrees and they go through an archway at the end of the hall. The mall opens up, taking up what John felt like the enter width of the ship, which it doesn't. "Follow me to my favorite clothing store on the ship." Zamos almost immediately gathers the attention of a group of children, who run over to her. Zamos smiles as they make cute remarks. One of the little girls says, "I wanna grow up and be like you Zammy. I want to wear pretty dresses like you!"

Another girl says, "No costumes today, Zammy?" Zamos places her hand on the girls head, "no, not today, I'm on official princess duty. Go on back to what you were doing now." The kids run off and Zamos smiles at John and shrugs. "Got to do what you got to do, come on, we are here."

They go into a clothing shop called _Leon's Custom Styles_. They walk up to the counter and the cashier greets them. "Good evening, how can I help you your majesty?"  
"Is Leon here? I have a new friend who needs sizing." Zamos asks.  
The cashier turns to his right and yells, "Leon! Your majesty is here!"

"Yes, yes, very good," Leon stumbles over a roll of purple fabric and leans up against the counter, "why hello there friend!" he was wearing a poofy red ball gown. Zamos was smiling, and John became confused. Leon notices and quickly says, "I, um, I'm just trying it on for size, I swear."  
"Sure you are, Leon, I knew you liked dresses." Zamos says with a smile. Leon walks around to our side of the counter, "yeah, one would think by knowing that I sew dresses designed for men that I would like dresses. So, how can I help you today?"

"My friend John here needs sized for a suit and robes."  
"Alrighty, let's see. If you'd please remove your boots." John removes Zamos's plushy boots and Leon proceeds to scan him. "Alrighty then, all done. You can now make custom orders, although they tend to take some time to put together."  
"We are on a time limit." Zamos says, "And we are here for a robe." Zamos picks out a male version of what she is wearing and we pay.

"If you'd like to change there is a restroom over there." She points across the hall. "I'll meet you over there," she moves her point to the left slightly to point at a sign " _Korravi bar and grill_ ". They enter the restaurant and Jane waves them to a table. "Hey, Jane, so this is how you look without all that armor." John says with a smile. She chose to wear a straight, strapless red dress. "I like this better." She smiles and says, "thank you." A waiter comes by and takes our drink orders. Zamos orders something called Solaris Royale and John orders a salted-caramel apple martini with vodka.

"Well I feel as though I should say thank you Jane, thanks for getting me out of there. Even if I hardly remember it." John says to Jane. John had blurry memories of the first teleport attempt not working and the Solarians needing to send a rescue team aboard. "My pleasure, sir, I enjoy action like that. Gets my adrenaline going." Jane says. The waiter comes back with the drinks and says, "I see you're already friends with Zamos."

"Boyfriend girlfriend actually." John says to the waiter who smiles and says, "Well, have fun." Jane gasps and says, "oh well look at you your majesty! Found yourself a man, I guess I'm not the only one anymore." The blue skin sitting next to Jane kisses her on the cheek. He looks at John and says, "My name is Lash Zucarri, Jane's husband. It's nice to meet you." The other alien with olive green skin says, "Ooo so a lovely prince has finally swept you off your feet."  
"Yes, indeed he has." Zamos says, blushing again. The olive green skinned one says, "I'm Liz. Nice to meet you." Two others introduce themselves, Jason and James. Jane adds, "And we are StarFire Squadron, best star fighter pilots in the fleet."

What was a princess doing hanging out with pilots for, John thought to himself. "Hey guys, sorry I'm late," a uniformed officer joins us; "I see you already ordered drinks." He grabs a shot glass and pours himself some Royale. Zamos introduces him, "John. This is our captain, James Ryan McCloud. You met very briefly the other day." He shakes John's hand and adds, "Call me McCloud."

The waiter comes back and takes their orders. John orders Shawri salad, not knowing what it was, "Uh, ah yeah I'll have the Shawri salad with red wine dressing." He takes note and asks, "And how would you like the meat prepared?"  
"Grilled, thanks."  
"Of course sir. I shall send out a calamari appetizer for everyone, it's on the house tonight along with fresh rolls and oil dippers." The waiter had a clear British accent, which John found weird. He leaves and John then whispers to Zamos, "What is Shawri?"  
"It's a large predatory bird native to Solaris Two. It tastes like duck, no worries. It's nothing weird."  
"Right then, ok."

"We don't normally have odd food, exotic things like calamari are normal. We don't have anything gross or oddly weird. Just strange names." Jane says. Zamos adds, "If you're not sure about an item you're interested in just ask me. I'll be honest about it. I don't play around when it comes to eating. I eat all natural foods, nothing processed and certainly nothing odd or gross." Jane leans closer to John and says, "And that's how she stays looking sexy."

Zamos rolls her eyes, "oh here comes the healthy eating crap again."  
"You can't tell me that you've never eaten anything unhealthy because you just ate two slices of pie on thanksgiving."

John smiles and says, "You all celebrate thanksgiving?"  
"Yes darling, ever since we introduced ourselves to the humans of earth we have adopted many earth based things, such as, day and month names, holidays, technology that we have long forgotten or ceased to use. Hell," She flashes her glass device, "cell phones are getting popular again. There's nothing better than the feel of a good piece of hardware in your hand." Jane adds, "We celebrate it twice actually. The first one was a few days before you arrived."

"Wow, ok, guess that saying 'you learn something new every day' is actually pretty accurate."

McCloud reaches into his trench coat and pulls out a rather large black and gold box. "I have something for you here, John. I, uh, I knew your father and he gave me this to give to you when you were ready and in need of it."

He slides the box across the table. John became confused as to how this McCloud knew his father. John opens it to reveal his father's custom colt 1911 from WW2. The pistol has a gloss black finish and gold filigree engravings of vines and leaves. The trigger, hammer, safety switch and the other levers are pure 16k gold. This was his great great grandfathers, ' _major Ryan A. Harper'_ , prized piece from World War Two and has been handed down through the family ever since.

"Wow! It's just as beautiful as I remember it. Is the silencer with it? I know he had one for it." The captain reaches into his coat again and pulls out another box, this one contained three loaded magazines and the silencer. "Thank you so much captain, this was a big surprise to say the least. I will treasure this piece for as long as I live."  
Zamos looks at John and says, "You're home now, my love. This is where you belong."

After the meal comes the conversation takes a professional and rather serious turn. McCloud says, "Zamos, I have an update on the situation with the Salamani Confederation. Recent communications with the Bootians indicate that the other members do not wish to join the alliance. They fear it will make them targets for the Caraveldi. The ship master by the name Ytelmiyn of the Bootian flag ship says it will end in a battle if our ships won't back down, however, the Bootians are ready to accept the alliance. The Cetians are on the fence and the Baavi and Bernarians are leaning towards war with the alliance."  
"We can't back down now!" Zamos says, "This arrangement with their confederation could be a turning point in power."  
"Well we will be dropping out of slip stream to detach the assault ship portion of the ship. We will be joining the fleet to hopefully seal the arrangement."

Chapter 3:

The Ambient Wonder drops out of the slip stream to reveal over a thousand ships, which were seemingly staring each other down. John stands on the battle bridge with Zamos and the combat ready crew. The next three minutes goes by and the comm link clicks on, "This is captain Sevriov to captain McCloud. The separation is complete. See you in Solaris Four orbit." A sphere of blue light appears in front of the civilian half of the ship and opens into a portal, which the ship is sucked into. "This is captain McCloud, all officers to battle stations. Be prepared for a fight."

Up ahead the Salamani fleet was positioned into what could be described as a chess board set up. Five hundred Baavi destroyers were up front followed by a line of three hundred Bernarian battle-cruisers and a third row of two hundred Cetian destroyers and five hundred Bootian battleships. A single ship sat dead center behind the fleet, the Bootian flag ship. A total of 1,501 ships, all designed for battle.

The entire Solarian fleet, made of 1,549 ships total, sat only half a mile away. " _No man's land_ " is what that area was called. The captain and the Bootian ship master were arguing back and forth about the deals within the arrangement. All of a sudden an insectoid Baavi pops onto the view screen and shouts, "I have had enough waiting! All Baavi, FIRE!"

Green laser beams silently lance forward from the ships ahead and ten Solarian ships are instantly destroyed. McCloud points at the screen and shouts, "you've done fracked up asshole!" he turns to the weapons officer, "power up all weapons… including the world destroyer." The front Solarian flanks open fire with their cutter beams, slicing Baavi ships in half. The Baavi advance into no man's land and then the Solarians follow suit. Plasma bolts and laser beams are sent flying in every direction. The creepy silence mixed with muffled booms of ships exploding was extremely eerie, massive destruction with no sound. The Bootian ships rise above the battle plane and open fire on the Baavi. The Bernarian ships double back to attack the Bootians. The ambient wonder violently shakes from being hit with an energy blast and a frightening screeching sound echoes through the hull. Sparks fly across a control console and start a small fire. "Put that out!" the captain yells, "open fire! Full spread!" "yes sir!" the power flickers as the weapons kick in. the plasma wells fling waves of plasma from the starboard side as port side plasma cannons fire on full auto. The ambient wonder shakes again, this time hard enough to throw people to the ground, with a gut-bursting shock wave. "Shields at 25 percent." An officer stands up, clutching his right eye, blood pouring out of it. His uniform was ripped open and bloody. "Frack! Why!?" he screams. "Oh god, aaahhhh!"

"Get him to medical, now!" another officer lay across the exploded hologram table, all of his blood splattered all over the wall to his right, dead. Baavi ship after Baavi ship are destroyed. The amount of wreckage and dead, frozen bodies littering space was sickening to watch. Suddenly the ship shakes again and everyone is thrown to the floor again. A console explodes sending parts of a metal railing flying across the bridge. The only officer who didn't fall is hit in the chest with one and he falls, dead. "Man, what the frack!" John screams as he pushes himself into a corner. Zamos throws herself over John, shaking in fear. Another console explodes and the ceiling caves in above the hologram table. Debris falls over Zamos and John. She screams, the in pain type of scream. Suddenly everyone seemed to attempt to evacuate the bridge as a loud metal on metal screech fills the air and is then reduced to a muffled moaning. Zamos and John were stuck, they could not move. A barely audible, but more so felt, explosion followed by a rushing air sound indicated a breach. John knew they both need to get out of the bridge. The power cuts out as John tries to get them free. He finally gets enough moved away so that they could get to the airlock. Zamos sat in a fetal position rocking back and forth, shaking violently. Another explosion shakes the ship and throws them both into the ceiling. Zamos is knocked out and John grabs her left wrist and flicks it twice like he's seen her do to activate an implant. The screen flickers on and a female voice says, "Zamos is unconscious, get her to a medical bay at once, she is internally bleeding from blunt trauma."

"Computer hail the ship in charge." The screen flickers and then shows the ship master Ytelmiyn. "This is Ytelmiyn, I have agreed to your arrangement."  
"Good, good, I need medical assistance ASAP." John says as calmly as possible. "We have retrieved your crew as well; we will beam you both directly to the medical bay." A tingling sensation fills John and he appears in a brightly lit white room, Zamos lying on a bed. The doctor rushes over and stabilizes her as John gasps for the air he was missing just a moment ago. Suddenly John's phone implant clicks on and says, "This is Ytelmiyn again, sorry for the intrusion but it was too easy to hack… anyways we are en route to Solaris Four. The destruction of the combat section of your ship has been reported and a new one is being fitted."  
"Thank you ship master." John says. He leans back into the medical bed and falls asleep.

"John. Wake up sleepy head." Zamos says. "That battle must have worn you out." John wakes to finds himself sprawled out on the pink fluffy bed in Zamos's quarters. "Get up, your appointment has been changed. Get ready. I'll be in the TV room." John watches her as she seemingly dances over to the TV room and plops down in the pink pillows. John gets up and walks over to the closet and gets out his robe. He slips it on and joins Zamos in the TV room. She was tapping away at the implant and the TV was responding by flipping channels. "Does the implant I'm getting work like the one I have already?"

"Ha, nowhere near." Zamos laughs. "The implant you have is a mere phone. Mine is so much more." She taps an icon and the show on the TV transfers to her wrist screen. "It can also give me important health information along with holographic displays of maps within my field of view. To do that you'll get an implant behind you right eye."

"Sounds painful…" John slowly says. "Oh not at all, in fact," Zamos says in response, "you'll be under stasis."  
"Oh… ok…" John says as Zamos stands up. "Well, let's get going then."

John and Zamos enter the medical bay and doctor Roltiar greets them. "Good morning John, I am the implant specialist on the ship. Doctor McKay, the surgeon, is ready for you. Please follow me through here."

They all walk into the surgery room and John get up on the table. "Please lie on your left side. I've injected you with stasis fluid; you'll be passing out soon." Zamos waits in the main area. To John the procedure felt like a few minutes if not less, but for Zamos it was about an hour and 24 minutes. At exactly that time John walks out and greets Zamos. No scars were visible at all and he was in no need for recovery. McKay runs a quick calibration and Zamos and John were sent on their way. As they get to the front door of Zamos's suite she turns to John and says, excited, "oh I almost forgot! They have a costume party on the pool deck at around 11 this morning," she checks the time and continues, "yes; we have time to get ready!"

Zamos opens the door and prances to the costume closet. John joins her and she asks, "Have you ever dressed up in a dress or tutu?"  
"Ha! Hell no!" John says with a laugh. Zamos gives him a puppy eyed looked and says, "Would you if I dared you to?" John shakes his head, with a smile growing on his face. "Do I get to pick the costume?" John asks. "Nope! Still wanna take my challenge?" Zamos nudges his arm. John says, with a smirk, "heck yeah! Let's do this!"

"Eek! I've like never had a boyfriend let me dress them up without threatening them with punishments." She says as she goes straight to the section full of pink and baby blue princess and fairy costumes. She looks over her shoulder and throws John a blindfold. "Put it on and don't remove it until I say so." John puts it on and waits. He hears Zamos giggle as she picks out the costume, "hehe! Yes! This is perfect." Next thing John knows he is being told to sit, stand, put his arms up, hold this here, and hold that there. After a few minutes of this Zamos leads him into the bathroom where there is a floor to ceiling mirror. "Kay, you can remove the blindfold." He does and his face turns red, although he couldn't help burst out laughing. The pink and baby blue knee length tutu dress was so extremely poofy that his arms disappeared when he let them to his side and the massive pink bow on his back was almost like wings. Zamos pushes a plush, pink princess hat on his head that had, "princess fairy" embroidered on the stuffed hem. "Oh wow, Zamos, this is great! Haha! I can't believe I'm gonna actually do this! It's so fluffy!"

"Do you like it, John?" Zamos asks through a devious smile. "Other than being embarrassing, yes, I think I can have some fun with this costume!"  
"Yay! Ok well I'm gonna dress as Ariel." Zamos says and disappears into the closet.

The reason John felt embarrassed is that the costume actually turned him on a little. He felt aroused and was afraid to find out what Zamos would think if she found out. He stares at himself in the mirror with a smile. The dress is almost as wide as he is tall and the poofy shoulders seemed to swallow up half his face. He takes a spin and the tutus poof up and nearly swallow him up. Zamos laughs and John stops dead in his tracks. " _Did she see I am aroused?_ " John thought silently. Zamos wraps her arms around John and whispers, "I can also read minds." Johns face instantly goes bright red. "Uh, so you know, that… that I have a problem in my pants?"

"Frilly pink sissy bloomers you mean?" she reaches through all the frilliness and rubs his crotch, "yes I do… in fact that makes it even better! You are supposed to feel embarrassed wearing a poofy dress. And I know it's not the wearing of the dress that embarrasses you. I bet you'll be a wonderful member of Simon's late night adult stage plays. Tons of sexual humor and a lot, and I mean a ton, of pie throwing and slime."  
"… Sounds… fun…" John says, purposely sounding uninterested. "Oh it is. I've been on it before. As a court jester."

"A princess playing the role of jester? That's rather interesting." John says as Zamos stops messing with his crotch. "Yup, it's odd for an outsider to understand. But to make it easy, we are on a ship, without a supreme commander to manage the moral officers. So, as a natural goofball, I tend to take the role of jester for the crew and those passengers in the civilian section of this ship." She says as she twirls on heel. She gives John the jester bow and he laughs. "Come on let's get going."

They leave the suite and John freezes, "people are actually going to see me in this," he says. Zamos smiles and John says, "the future leader of Solaris Four will be seen in public wearing a sissy princess tutu dress." His face was turning red again. "John, a leader that can show himself embarrassed in public and yet still be strong enough to fight through it is a leader worth having. Now suck it up, prissy princess and let's go!"

They walk down the hallway and take the lift to the great hall. The same kids from earlier rush up to John and Zamos, laughing. "Hey Zammy, you're so pretty in that!" one of the kids says. One of the girls points at John while tugging on Zamos's dress. "Haha. Did you force him dress up? He's so funny!"

"Yes," Zamos says as she kneels to their height, "he actually let me dress him up. That's going to be our new Supreme Commander. I'm sure you've learned about it school?"  
One of the kids throws his hand up, "yes! The supreme commander is in charge of the military of his designated planet. He or she also manages ship supplies throughout the fleet and is a moral officer on the ship of his choice!"

Zamos smiles, "very good. Now can you tell me what I will be doing when appointed Queen?" A girl answers, "Zammy, you will be in charge of the SBC and government fundraisers on Solaris four. It will be your job to make sure there is enough money for both government and people, so they can all live happy lives."

"Perfect. And do you think I can do it?" Zamos says still smiling. A few shake their heads and the girl says, "I don't know. Time will tell, right Zammy?"  
Zamos laughs, "Yes, yes time will tell. Would you all like a picture?"

"Yeah!" they all say at once. Zamos pulls the glass phone from her dresses left pocket and asks one of the kids parents to take a photo. Zamos nudges John, "do something goofy." He takes a pose and the picture is taken. Zamos smiles at John, "kids are so much fun!"

"Yeah, sure. Let's go to the pool deck now."

They both cross to the far side of the great hall and take a lift all the way to the top deck. They enter into a deck like none of the others. This deck seems to lead right out into space, causing John's heart to skip a beat and hold his breath. "Relax, John," Zamos says, "the breathable atmosphere is held in by a force field. Now if you'll excuse me for a moment I will be right back with something to drink. What would you like?"  
"A pink watermelon vodka martini. I saw it on a menu and thought I'd like it."  
"Kay kay! I'll be right back." She prances away, leaving John to his own accord. The last person John wanted to run into wearing a damn dress pops up beside him. "Looking pretty fine John! Love the dress. So fluffy." It was Captain McCloud. He saw Johns face go red and adds, "oh not to worry, we use to force your father to do the same thing when we were young. Very fun, your father. He'd take any dare he was given."

"I guess I get that from him," John says. The captain's British accent was growing on John and it didn't bother him much anymore. Lash skips over to us wearing a thigh length pink tutu fairy costume, complete with wings. "Hey John! Were you dared too!?"  
"… Yeah…" he says plainly.  
"Cool, it's so fun on this ship." Lash says, "at least when I have time off."  
"You're a fighter pilot; you have all the time in the world."  
"Not only am I a pilot, I am also an intelligence officer and assassin slash spy."  
"An assassin dressed as a fairy? Interesting." John says with a smile. Zamos returns and says, "Hey Lash, did Jane dare you to dress up?"  
"Of course she did, I wouldn't dress this way any other day."

Zamos looks at John and says, "Your dress is massively fluffy. I can't believe you let me do that to you." She giggles as she hands John the drink. "So John, it seems we are having a pie throwing game after lunch. Would you like to sign up with me?"  
"Which of us is taking the pies?"  
Zamos tilts her and smiles saying, "BOTH! Lash gets to throw at me and Jane will throw at you. It'll so much fun. You wanna do it!?"  
John laughs and says, "Eh, I'm not sure just yet."  
"Well we need to sign up in the next 5 minutes. Will you do it on a dare?"  
"Fine… challenge accepted." John says. Zamos raises her glass, "to pies in the face!"  
"Pie!" Lash, Jane and John say together.

Lunch is served and John goes over to the buffet table. He gets loads up his plate with sushi, calamari, and some sort of Solarian version of lo mein with Shawri meat and Solarian shrimp.

After lunch John was buckled into an inflatable chair, next to Zamos, and they are both given goggles to wear. "Winner gets slimed! Three, two, one, GO!" Zamos squeals as she is hit in the face on the first throw. John gets hit in the chest with a pie and then in the face. He starts laughing as Zamos is hit twice in the face again. She takes a handful of chocolate pudding and smears it up John's tutus. He gets hit again. Pie splatters all over the place. Jane shouts, "FIRST!" and the game runner pulls John, still strapped into his chair, over to a large nose shaped inflatable. "Five, four, three, two, one, SLIME TIME!" suddenly neon green snot-like gunk pours over Johns head and oozes down his face and front. He lifts his hands through the stringy slime as he laughs, "oh my god! Ugh." it lay thick and heavy over him and it was sticky and slimy at the same time. Looking up at Zamos, who was laughing he says, "well there's a first time for everything, right." Zamos nods and replies, through her hysterical laughter, "Haha you look ridiculous John!" Zamos says, "Lenora got you good! Hey, haha, i've got a new name for you, love! i'm gonna call you Princess Snottia!"

"you can do better than that darling." John says as he squishes the gooey slime through his fingers. "ok then, how about Princess Pie Face!"  
"Haha yes that is a perfect stage name." John laughs as Lenora unbuckles him from the seat.

Zamos and John laugh as they head to a teleport pad. She taps in a password and they both beam straight into the shower chamber and Zamos says, "Computer, Water temperature at 75 degrees."  
"Ok Zamos but first, a little prank." The door locks them in and green snotty slime spews all over them both. Zamos screams as John goes, "oh god! Not more!"  
"That was a little gift from Simon; enjoy trying to wash that up." The water turns on in the corner waterfall well. Zamos was frozen to the spot as John slides his hand through his shoulder length hair letting the slime ooze through his fingers. "Ugh, this is so gross."

"And Simon knows water makes this stuff even slimier." Zamos looks at John and she busts out laughing. Her dress was already off and her naked body was shiny with icky neon green slime. The slime was slowly dripping from her held out arms. As far as John goes he was half way out of his dress when it happened. Zamos pulls the dress down around his ankles and sees he was aroused. Zamos throws her arms around him and says, "Computer! Got any more?" More green slime spews over the both of them. They laugh at the situation they are in and kiss. Zamos trips John and lowers him to the floor. She plops on top of him and slowly works him up, grinding back and forth. She leans forward and they begin to make out, still laughing. John rolls towards the water fall and Zamos follows him. They eventually get cleaned up and they find themselves making love in the pink fluffy bed. After an hour sleep they are called to the bridges conference room.

This book is credited to the following people:

My parents, for being there to support me through hard times

My teachers who had to deal with me writing out the plot and story-line and also those horrible first attempts at drawing my characters.

My friends who had to deal with the nonstop talking about my books and characters

Katie: for dealing with countless trips to McDonald's so that I could write this book. Also for hanging out with me and her constant support. For also helping develop the Solarian physical traits and culture in more detail than I could have on my own.

Also, my high school English teacher, for letting me hog her classroom just so I had a quiet space to do my work.

This project is many years in the making and I am still developing the entire Solaris Four universe.

By the way, if you are reading this book and are hooked, keep an eye out for a book called "Solaris Four: the visual art" … that book will contain all the art you could ever need for this series. (and yes, if this novel gets good marks I have an entire 6 book series planned.) If you can't imagine the visual in your head this is a perfect "must have" for any Solaris Four fan. All art in the book is done by me and all copies will be stamped with my signature. (I've become an amazing artist over the years, so the art doesn't look like crap anymore!) It's all done in an anime style, and pen and ink are what I use to do my art.

 **A Little About the Author:**

 _Hello, N.S. Maars here. You may have figured this out on your own, but N.S. Maars is just a pen name. My name by birth is Brad Muffley. I have been writing stories for many years now but just recently discovered it as my calling in life. As you've read, I have dedicated this novel to my father for his influence in my Science Fiction tastes. I remember sleepless nights as a child watching Star Trek Voyager with him after he got home from work. I remember throwing my hand out like a ship going to warp speed with a "pheew!" sound. It remains an inside joke even as we now watch The Orville. He was a police officer in DC. throughout most of my childhood and I hoped to follow his footsteps. But when mental illness struck my dreams down I went looking through my computer, and found a partially written book. A book based on a hand written novel of 500 pages, titled Solaris Four. This is the finished copy of that book, much is missing though, because 45 percent of the hand written novel was lost during the move from Fairfax to Fredericksburg, VA. I have done my best to recreate my work in this novel, and I hope you enjoy reading it as must as I enjoyed writing it.  
My number one favorite Sci-Fi is, hands down, Star Trek Voyager, but over the years I've added many shows and novels to my favorites. My Favorite Science Fiction novels come from Arthur C. Clark. My Inspiration to write comes from many works of fiction including, The Hunger Games, Divergent, BattleStar Galactica, Halo, Star Citizen, dead space, Gears of War, James Cameron's Avatar, FireFly and Serenity, Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings, and of course Star Trek. I have become picky with both Star Trek and StarWars for reasons many geeks would totally understand. I also love the Orville, and without such a great comedy I would have never thought to add any comedy to my "Mostly serious" story.  
Just so you don't take my calling anyone nerds or geeks I will admit right here that I am both. I LOVE Dungeons and Dragons, Magic the Gathering and so on. I will also say that I took the Hogwarts sorting test on PotterMore and I was put in RavenClaw. I also took the divergent Aptitude test and was rated a 100 percent Dauntless (which, honestly is the ONLY faction I'd even consider joining!) _

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